Page 1 of Vodka And Virtue

1

CARLISLE

Without fail,every time I managed to find five minutes to be lazy, my brother honed in and stole them. Like now, I had just laid down on my bed and kicked my shoes off, thumbing through a catalog of bar and restaurant supplies, when he popped his head in my doorway.

“Hey, you want to run to the mall with me? I need to grab a couple shirts for work. I’ve got nothing to wear tonight.”

I laid my catalog down with a sigh. “Why don’t you try doing laundry.”

“I did. I swear. But Ryan had red velvet cake batter on his apron, and I leaned in for a hug and—”

“Just a hug, huh?”

He glared sardonically, one dark eyebrow arching. “Hug, kiss, whatever. The point is, it stained my white button-down permanently. I’ve washed it twice, tried club soda and even bleach, but the residual pink splotch won’t budge.”

“You’d look pretty in pink,” I teased, aiming to get a rise out of him. No matter how old we got, we would never outgrow our sibling rivalry. It was ingrained into our DNA.

“And you’d look pretty with a fat lip. Want one?”

I gave him a disbelieving look, dismissing his threat. “Give me a minute to put my shoes on and we’ll go.”

When we were pulling out of the driveway, he added, “Do you mind if we swing by and pick up Ryan?”

“It’s not exactly on the way. He lives clear across town!”

“I know, but it’s my only chance to steal an hour with him before work. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait until Friday night.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes. Their lovesick attachment to each other confounded me. I’d never felt that burning need to spend time with any of my past girlfriends. It was all very platonic and mild, if I was being honest. When it came to their company, I could take it or leave it. If it hadn’t been for the constant threat of consequence, I would have left it most of the time. Nothing sucked more than fighting to regain someone’s attention when you didn’t even want it that badly to begin with.

I guess I always did what was expected of me. My fatal flaw. In school, I had good grades and perfect attendance. I joined the right extracurricular clubs and campaigned for class secretary. I’d finished my degree in hotel and business management and dated ‘nice’girls. And where had all that gotten me? Dumped, down on my luck, and a huge deficit in my confidence.

My phone chimed, pulling me from my thoughts. I pulled it from my pocket to check my incoming message, frowning when I saw who’d sent it.

“Who’s that?”

“Why do you assume everything in my life is your business?”

“Because it is. You’re my twin. Everything that concerns you, concerns me.”

“And does it work in reverse?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Carson looked horrified. “Hell no! My life ismybusiness. Keep your nosy ass out of it.”

Exactly what I figured he’d say. Although he was older than me by a mere two minutes, he acted like it was two decades, always referring to himself as my older brother, like I needed looking after. Ironically, I was the more mature and responsible of the two of us. I was organized, where he was disheveled. I was always early, whereas Carson was perpetually late. I preferred to eat well, and my twin was a beer and burgers kind of guy. We were as different as night and day. But we shared the same face and the same house. He was more than my best friend or my brother. He was the other half of me.

And because of that, I let a lot of shit slide.

“So, who was it?”

“Susannah,” I grumbled.

“The chick with the dimple chin? I thought you were done with her.”

“Technically,shedumpedme. But yeah, we’re finished.”

“So why is she texting you?”

“She wants to talk.”

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